


Spun gold hair and Twin Shadows

by Thousand_elf



Series: Filviya and their multiverse adventurer [1]
Category: Elsewhere University (Webcomic), Sword Oratoria - Fujino Ōmori
Genre: Dealings, F/F, Fae & Fairies, Reincarnation, Sort Of, the Fair Folks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:01:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25729372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thousand_elf/pseuds/Thousand_elf
Summary: Elsewhere University is not kind to most of the students, but a certain being will be.Find them near the Greenhouse, and you will find help.
Relationships: Filvis Challia/Lefiya Viridis
Series: Filviya and their multiverse adventurer [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1869082
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9





	Spun gold hair and Twin Shadows

The new student in the Culinary Arts is weird.

Not weird like Gentry weird, but close enough.

She carries no iron, no salt, and no rowen tucked into her shoes. 

Her roommate poked her with iron; a classmate peer at her through a silver ring. There’s no change in her appearance, she has no Fae blood.

(They forgot to look down.)

She bargains and trades and smiles and dances with the Gentries without the usual weariness other students have.

And the Gentries look afraid.

She calls herself Thousand, with golden yellow hair in high ponytail and eyes blue like clear water.

Sometimes, students see another shadow walking beside her.

Sometimes, the student who sell Sight to those that are curious, thinks she sees a pair of pointy ears sticking out of golden yellow hair.

Sometimes, when there’s only her and her two shadows, golden sparks fall from her finger tips.

One day, which just happens to be on the night of the Wild Hunt, Thousand and her roommate didn’t return to the dorm before the moon rises.

The hunting horn is clear as it pierces through the night.

The next morning comes, and they are perfectly on time for the first class, both unharmed.

They notice the second shadow more clearly now, but dare not to talk about it.

Crows nod at her in respect. Cats weave between her legs in greeting. The Fox Lady averts her countless eyes when she passes.

Gentries fear her, students aren’t sure whether they should follow the lead or ally themselves with her.

The second one seems to be a safer option. Their fellow student is kind; the Gentries are often not.

“Freely given.” Thousand will smile, an expression matching sunlight on springtimes, and hands freshmen a Elsewhere-University-starter-kit, including sugar packets, salt cellar, plastic beads and cream. 

And if she found some lone students skirting around the edges of the school, one step away from the starless shadow of the forest, she will take them under her wings.

(It’s not a complete pattern, but some of them have long, inky black hair, often look lonely or too silent. Always with a Fae or two lurking behind them.)

The kit these students receive will be much bigger, containing various accessories of silver and iron; rolls of plastic beads and fishing lines; ivory and bronze trinkets; pages of poem and a small bouquet of dried flowers.

She can’t bring all of them into the light, but at least she can ensure their safety in the shadows.

These items—and as those with Sight find out later, the students themselves—all carry a fiery emblem: golden crown with a sword and shield crossed behind it.

The Folks practically run at the sight of that mark.

Some brave souls—theatre and music majors—manage to trade bit and pieces of knowledge from school staff and the Folks hanging around the stage, and the whispers spread out.

That’s about the time when they figure out she is not a student.

The Unknown, The Bright One, Shrike, Nightingale, The knight and her Queen. They have many names, but none of these feel “right”.

And finally, after comparing answers and digging back to a time when this person shouldn’t even be alive, their oldest name surfaced.

Thousand Elf and Banshee.

This knowledge doesn’t interfere with campus lives much, but now, if you are ever in trouble (hostile shadows stalking your footsteps, quite whispers of success and acceptance, or just run out of milk to feed the Something that guard your windows every night but it’s too late to go out), there’s always a figure with gold spun hair, lake blue eyes and twin shadows sitting at the railings that surround the Greenhouse.

When you ask them for advice or protection, she will smile, like sunlight in spring, and the second shadow will give you what you need.

For a single, fleeting moment, you think you see a figure matching that shadow standing beside Thousand.

Lone black hair, ruby red eyes, and never alone.

Before you wake up in your bed with only two minutes gone according to your watch, they will tell you.

“Find us when you are ready to leave this hill.”

Thousand, and by extension, Banshee, will only do Real™ trading when you’re about to graduate.

(Some students figure out that it actually means after you paid off most of your debts, because some never found them before disappearing due to owing the Good Neighbors things bigger than milk and protection. Thousand is kind, but she cannot interfere with fair deals that are already made.)

They (this is the only time Banshee will be seen with a physical body) will ask you for a song that holds great meaning to you. Nothing more, nothing less.

The graduates will not remember the University; the weird teeth in their pockets hold no meaning. The tin crow and crystal cat go into the souvenir box to gather dust. 

But when they are in trouble, wether it’s relationship problems, pets wandered away, or a very, very familiar yet unwelcome figure flashing in and out of your vision, a soft duet will rise from the depth of their mind, somehow similar to their favorite song during college times, and they will feel peace.

There is a figure with golden yellow hair and blue eyes clearer than any sea. 

She has two shadows, the second one occasionally has a body.

They protect students, fishing them out of the Forest and the depths of the Library then give them a starter kit.

You can trade a song for their protection, but do pay off your other debts before it.

They have many names across the history of the University(and one older than that), but in the end, Gentries call them the Unknown and the Bright One, Humans call them Banshee and Thousand.

Always together, never to be part again.


End file.
